Workers need to be paid a living wage.

Minimum living wage is an issue of concern to trade unions and is also the content that many delegates and experts commented on in the draft document submitted to the 14th National Party Congress organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL).

- Ảnh 1. — Dr. Pham Thu Lan, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions

Minimum living wage not yet legalized

Commenting on the draft document, Dr. Pham Thu Lan, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions (now the Institute of Strategy and Policy of the Front) said that the current concept of minimum wage only meets the minimum living standard but does not ensure "enough to live". With the current income and expenditure of workers, the calculation indicators are no longer suitable because they are still based on the poor and low-income groups.

"We have legalized the minimum wage but not the minimum living wage. As a middle-income country, we need to shift from the mindset of "minimum wage" to "minimum living wage", which means ensuring a suitable standard of living for workers and their families in a certain period of time," Ms. Lan suggested.

According to Ms. Lan, a living wage, as defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), is the lowest wage that is sufficient for workers and their families to cover basic necessities, including: nutritious food, suitable housing, health care, education , transportation, social relations, and savings for the future. If it only stops at the minimum living standard, the country will hardly be able to make a breakthrough.

When workers are paid a living wage, they not only have enough food and clothing, but also have the conditions to study, save and be creative. That is the real driving force for sustainable development.

From practice, Ms. Lan proposed that the draft Political Report to be submitted to the 14th National Party Congress should add the goal of implementing "a minimum living wage" in the viewpoints and goals for national development in the 2026 - 2035 period; at the same time, it is necessary to summarize 40 years of implementing wage policy to aim at ensuring a decent standard of living for workers.

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Regarding this, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Ngo Duy Hieu said that a living minimum wage is an issue that the trade union organization is particularly interested in and will continue to research and propose at the appropriate time.

Building a new working class

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Dinh Bon, former Secretary of the Central Theoretical Council, said that to build a strong working class, it is necessary to link it with the socio-economic development strategy, improve professional skills and creativity.

According to him, the working class is the vanguard force in industrialization and modernization, so the wage policy must be enough to live on and encourage them to stay long-term.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc An, Chairman of the Vietnam Education Trade Union, said that many workers still face barriers when they want to study to improve their qualifications or change careers due to work pressure, high costs and lack of time.

- Ảnh 2. — According to experts, the working class is the pioneering force in industrialization and modernization, so the wage policy must be enough to live on.

Mr. An recommended that the State should concretize the policy of "lifelong learning for workers and laborers until 2030" with feasible regulations and guidelines, prioritize financial resources to support businesses and workers participating in training, and allow businesses to deduct training costs from taxes to encourage investment in vocational education.

In the context of the 4.0 industrial revolution and fluctuations in the labor market, Ms. Nguyen Kim Loan, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, said that it is necessary to issue a new resolution with a more comprehensive and modern mindset to develop the working class in terms of employment, income, social security, qualifications and skills.

According to Ms. Loan, it is necessary to promote the goal of building the working class in the new era to become a pioneering force, converging four qualities: high level, industrial style, innovation capacity and strong political will. To achieve this, it is necessary to synchronously deploy solutions on training, ensuring rights, developing Party - trade union organizations in enterprises, training and fostering excellent workers as a source of cadres.

Ms. Thai Thu Xuong, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, said that collecting comments on the draft documents to be submitted to the 14th National Party Congress is a broad political activity, demonstrating the enthusiasm, responsibility and trust of the working class and trade union organizations towards the Party. The opinions of cadres, party members, union members and workers will contribute to perfecting the documents, contributing to the development of the country.

Ms. Xuong requested that trade unions at all levels continue to collect opinions at the grassroots level and synthesize and send them to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor before November 8; at the same time, monitor the situation of union members, workers and public opinion related to party congresses at all levels and the 14th National Party Congress.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-lao-dong-can-duoc-huong-luong-du-song-185251103162012873.htm